Do you want to create your own website to organize a sweepstakes or an online contest for your local market or even an International audience? Here is a simple and clear step-by-step explanation on how you too can make your own stunning contest website in the shortest time possible. You can own a gorgeous website of a contest in just a few hours, and at a price you can afford. Here are four steps to make before you can have your own website.
STEP 1: Get a Domain Name
First you need to get a domain name for your contest. If you want to look professional, you need to have your own domain name for the contest or campaign. A contest or giveaway that is hosted on a unique domain will look more legitimate than the ones hosted on a free hosting or blog. If you already registered your name or do not want to be one your own domain name, you can skip to Step 2.
It is easy to get a domain name, just go to one of the domain registrars such as Namecheap and Godaddy. You can search for a domain name and if it’s available, buy it before somebody else grabs it.
A domain name is like the signboard outside of a restaurant. It should be a name people can remember easily. It may include your brand and the name of the contest.
Click here to search for a domain name.
STEP 2: Get a Website Hosting
You also need a website hosting for hosting the pages for your contest. This is like the space or shop unit that your rent to open the restaurant.
There are many kinds of web hosting space that you can rent depending on your needs and the scale of your website. Webhostingcomparison.org is a good place to learn about the various kinds of web host service available. If you are building your first website, we will assume you either want to use a simple site builder or to get a multi domain shared hosting to create a more robust website.
To decide on which web hosting to use, you will need to ask yourself, “what are my requirements?”.
| Choose a Site Builder if… | Choose a Multi Domain Shared Hosting if… |
|---|---|
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| Site Builder Hosting Suggestions | Multi-Domain Hosting Suggestions |
| Try site builders such as Weebly or Wix | We recommend you get a cPanel web hosting at Hostgator because we have been using them for over 8 years with no problem. They also have a very helpful support team. |
STEP 3: Build and Customize Your Website
The next step is to build your website.
If you go with the multi domain hosting path above, the best platform to use to create your website is WordPress. With WordPress, you can easily install it using one-click installer like Fantastico and QuickInstall that can be found in your cPanel. WordPress also have huge selection of themes and plugins that you can choose from to minimize coding your site manually.
If you choose the multi domain hosting method instead of using Weebly or Wix, you have the flexibillity to customize your website. If you want stunning themes, you can go to Themeforest. Here are some of the gorgeous themes suitable for contest websites:
- Enfold – a clean, super flexible and fully responsive WordPress Theme (try resizing your browser), suited for business websites, shop websites, and users who want to showcase their work on a neat portfolio site.
- The7 – perfectly scalable, performance and SEO optimized, responsive, retina ready multipurpose WordPress theme.
- Builder – designed in a clean and minimalistic style.
Create the Pages for Your Site
Next, you want to create the pages for your contest or giveaway website. Some of the common pages you may want to add are:
- About the contest
- About the prizes
- Terms and conditions
- How to enter/win
- Contest page (see next section how to create online contest)
STEP 4: Build Your contest Using Gleam
Now, when it comes to creating contest, the most sensible solution is to use a contest app such as Gleam.io, Woobox or Rafflecopter. We prefer Gleam instead of the others because it has the most features and highly customizable.
To be honest, there are many things to consider when creating a contest, lucky draw or giveaway for your brand. There are any factors such as:
- Building email lists
- How to engage the userbase
- How to verify entries and frauds
- How to restrict by country
- How to integrate with social media such as Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram etc.
- Analytics
- Notifications
- Picking of winners
Good news! Gleam provides an easy way to create contests at no cost. The free plan actions include Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Pinterest, Youtube, Instagram, Soundcloud, Vimeo, visiting a specific URL, questions and multiple choice polls, and bonus entries. They also allow a seamless experience across devices & platforms that not only looks great, but allows you to syndicate your contest in a way that fits the image of your brand perfectly.
Click here to sign up with Gleam.io for free
To create a contest you will first need to add a site at Gleam. Each site has access to individual instances of their apps, you can also use the left menu to switch between sites.
Multiple sites have the following advantages: You can keep your data separated, ensure your campaigns are branded from that site & also allows you to have site specific integrations.
How to create a new contest:
- Navigate to the site you want to use
- Click on the contests tab in the left navigation
- Click on the New Contest button on the top right
Inserting the Contest into Your Website
You can embed your contest inside any page that allows Javascript. This means you can install it on your own site or perhaps give to a web designer to include the code for you.
You can view more detailed instructions in the add to a page installation guide.
Promote Your Brand Today
Contests and giveaways are tried and true ways of building brand exposure and gaining precious eyeballs in today’s attention-scarce world. Do it right. Do it now.
Commit to promoting your Americans or International business – start by registering a domain for your contest.